Avon Tech R-a Tires... looking for input on R compounds

[2fast4u]

I am looking for your input if you know anything about these tires for my Z/28. I am looking for a tire I can use for DE/autocross and these are on closeout @ tirerack in my size (275/40/17) for $149 a piece... cheap for R compounds... I like my AVSES100s on the street, but am looking for more grip for the track...
I didn't put this in the tire section because of the type of tire... I dont care how they look, just how they perform...

Avon Tech R-A

[JClark]

Dont have any direct experience with them but I know guys who have had good success out of them. They wont get up to temp at an autox and wont give you any grip. Instead, you'll give them a half heat cycle every run you go out and will burn out their useful life pretty quick. If its a good deal then give it a try for the track, but your street tires are probably better for autox.

Just my $.02.

[JVG Motorsports]

That tire seems a bit to much for and auto cross. For that cost if you need just a bit more bite the the Yokoham AVS ES100 offer then you could step up to the Kuhmo Ecsta MX. +1 for street tires in an autocross.

[crazybrew609]

you are such an MX band wagon fag.. the AVS FTMFW!!!!

[JClark]

^^^ Says the guy who wont come autox because he still has snows on his car.


The MX is the best street tire around for the money if you are going to beat them up. Track, autox, whatever, they work great and are dirty cheap. The AVS ES100s are the worst street tire I ever used for anything.

For a daily driver tire that you are going to autox once or twice, the MXs suck. They wear funky and are stupid loud. Think beater tire.


2fast- What degree of Rcomp are you looking for? If you can sacrifice some grip for longer life and more heat cycles, why not a Toyo RA1/Nitto NT01? The Hankook ZS211 (whatever) is also in that group. These ones shouldn't be that much more expensive and will last longer. Still suck for an autox tho.

If memory serves, the Avon is in the same boat as the Hankook ZS214 in that it is a high grip DOTR. Less grip than a Hoosier R6 but more life, and more grip than an RA1 but less life.

I'm not baller enough to heat cycle out an $800+ set of tires in one DE 2-day and then throw them away.

[mafdark]

Originally Posted by JVG Motorsports

That tire seems a bit to much for and auto cross. For that cost if you need just a bit more bite the the Yokoham AVS ES100 offer then you could step up to the Kuhmo Ecsta MX. +1 for street tires in an autocross.

Es100s, are you kidding me? those sucked ass. My all seasons got better grip wet and dry.

[Sleepr56]

Yea es100's would be my last choice for an auto-x tire.

The old generation Azeni's were awesome to auto-x with, Parada's sucked after you wore down to 75% tire life.

The MX's are def the best street tire I have used in an auto x.

Does khumo even make them anymore?

[2fast4u]

Originally Posted by JClark

2fast- What degree of Rcomp are you looking for? If you can sacrifice some grip for longer life and more heat cycles, why not a Toyo RA1/Nitto NT01? The Hankook ZS211 (whatever) is also in that group. These ones shouldn't be that much more expensive and will last longer. Still suck for an autox tho.

If memory serves, the Avon is in the same boat as the Hankook ZS214 in that it is a high grip DOTR. Less grip than a Hoosier R6 but more life, and more grip than an RA1 but less life.

I'm not baller enough to heat cycle out an $800+ set of tires in one DE 2-day and then throw them away.

The car isnt a DD (thats the Jeep) but I love to drive it on the street. I have zero experience with R compounds, mostly due to the entry price and just finishing 8 years of college. I liked the way the AVSES100s performed on the track because they didnt melt or chunk like my bridgestones did. They seem to survive higher temps that my pig of a car (3660lbs race weight) seems to generate. That said, I dont know what exactly I am looking for in an R compound other than more traction than the Yokos can provide and to not burn up a set of my street tires in 4-5 track days. The fronts on my car take an insane beating because it likes to plow, and because I only have 3 years of DE under my belt, I could always be smoother. If I could get 3-4 events out of a set I would be happy with them... Does that help you help me???

Thanks!

[thefrush]

Originally Posted by crazybrew609

you are such an MX band wagon fag.. the AVS FTMFW!!!!

That's funny. AVS are crap.

Originally Posted by Sleepr56

The MX's are def the best street tire I have used in an auto x.

Does khumo even make them anymore?

Kumho Ecsta MX

Or the new run-flat MXs!

Kumho Ecsta MX XRP


+1 for the awesomeness of MXs. I used them on the street, auto-x, and track, and was THRILLED with them.

[JClark]

Originally Posted by 2fast4u

The car isnt a DD (thats the Jeep) but I love to drive it on the street. I have zero experience with R compounds, mostly due to the entry price and just finishing 8 years of college. I liked the way the AVSES100s performed on the track because they didnt melt or chunk like my bridgestones did. They seem to survive higher temps that my pig of a car (3660lbs race weight) seems to generate. That said, I dont know what exactly I am looking for in an R compound other than more traction than the Yokos can provide and to not burn up a set of my street tires in 4-5 track days. The fronts on my car take an insane beating because it likes to plow, and because I only have 3 years of DE under my belt, I could always be smoother. If I could get 3-4 events out of a set I would be happy with them... Does that help you help me???

Thanks!

I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'll throw it out anyway. More often than not, people move up to R comps too soon. The traction breakaway of an rcomp is more abrupt and harder to read than a performance street tire that breaks away in a progressive slide with lots of wailing. I dont know what your experience is (you could be a Bondurant instructor for all I know), but many people say, and I agree, that you should be able to do cartwheels on street tires before you upgrade. In literal terms, that means being able to aggresively rotate the car in all stages of the corner, and handle a slide/spin blindfolded.

Disclaimer over. The more grip a tire has, the faster it will wear (and more abrupt traction break-away). More important than wear is heat cycling. A tire like the Hankook ZS214 (not the 11s, there's a dif) or a serious slick like a Hoosier R6 can be heat cycled out in 2 track days. Meaning, the tire has a limited number of times it can be taken up to temp and then cooled down before it [chemically] starts to lose grip. They're fine to run on, but will get slipperier and slipperier until you'll want you're street tires back. Figure each track session is a heat cycle.

If you haven't run on R's before, the lower rung of the ladder is probably the best place to start and the best value. Toyo RA-1, Hankook ZS211, etc. These tires have a ton more grip than your street tires, the break away point is a notch up but far from extreme, they're cheap, and they last forever. I got 6 open track days out of my last set of Toyos, which would mean 9-12 normal DE days.

The first heatcycle for a tire is a big deal since the compound will "set" itself. Proper heat cycling is necessary to get the most grip and life out of the tire. Tire Rack and others can heatcycle your tires before you buy them and it's worth it. Also, a lot of these tires come with a full 7-8/32s of tread which is way too much for a dry tire. If they are your rain tire, keep it full tread. If not, shave it (4-5/32s or so usually). At full tread in the dry, the tread blocks squirm around and overheat the tire and it will start to chunk apart. Shaving the meat off the tire will actually improve its life, and it will be much faster and provide better feedback through the wheel.

The Avons through TR are a good deal and could be worth picking up at that price. A lot of places sell used scrubs as well like Meisterschaft Motor - Your Motorsport Connection. I haven't used them yet, but I have gotten a lot of scrubs from another race team. They shave them down and use them for 3-6 laps in qualifying and then sell them to guys like us. The qualifying does a decent job of heat cycling and there is 99% of useful life left.

All of that is just my $.02 of course. I've used almost every level of tire but dont claim to be an expert, just my thoughts.

[1stgen]

I run the avons on my scirocco. They work damn good by anyones standards and are dirt cheap. They have the same if not more grip than the hankooks. Drove on both this week at the glen. hankooks were on the honda and avons on my rocco. They are alot heavier per tire. 6-7 lbs to be exact compared to hoosiers or the hankooks. But unless your racing for REAL not glorified in your mind racing but real racing you should get goodyear slicks then. But for the occasional track day and autocross they will be fine.

[2fast4u]

Thanks for the input... the weight isnt really a concern to me right now... they weigh the same as my street tires (29 lbs a corner)